Dec 9, 2015 1 min read

Trinity School District’s current contract with its teachers expires in July 2016, but there will not be any of the kind of turmoil experienced in Peters Township when school begins next year. The school board and teachers approved an early-bird contract Monday, a five-year deal that surprisingly reflects economic reality.

Schools in Peters Township were subjected to a long and nasty strike. Resolution still seems a long way off, and the community will need years to fill the deep rift dividing it. Though the sides have come closer, teachers are still demanding more than what the board claims the district can afford.

The agreement reached in Trinity is, by comparison, startlingly modest. It calls for a pay freeze in the first year of the contract and annual increases of about 1 percent the next four years. Starting pay for teachers will actually decrease, and teachers will have to pay 30 percent more for their health coverage.

The negotiators deserve praise for understanding the needs of the entire community and putting education first.